1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved body support.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A known type of hospital bed includes a series of parallel horizontal resiliently yieldable rollers located between and in contact with a top sheet tensioned above a frame, and a plate which is reciprocal longitudinally with respect to the bed and is moved back and forth by a drive mechanism so that the rollers are fairly slowly advanced and retracted to roll in one direction and the other under the sheet. The soft rollers form a comfortable support for a patient lying on the bed and, because of their motion under the fixed sheet, the pressure on supported parts of the body of the patient is alternately lessened and increased. Beds of this type have been found to be highly conducive to the comfort of patients who are immobilised. This system is applicable to other body supports also, such as seats of various kinds and operating tables.
These body supports, though generally very satisfactory, have certain disadvantages. They are fairly expensive to make and cannot easily be installed in existing beds, wheel chairs and the like, and the tensioned top sheet may be less yielding than is desirable, resulting in insufficient relief to patients at some pressure points such as heels and elbows. Such a system is not readily applicable to, for example, all sections of a hospital bed which are in hingedly adjustable relationships.